Dewi Lake and Jac Morgan appointed co-captains as Wales unveil World Cup squad

Wales head coach Warren Gatland has named Dewi Lake and Jac Morgan co-captains for the upcoming Rugby World Cup campaign.

The 33-man squad consists of 19 forwards and 14 backs with George North set to make appearance on what will be his fourth World Cup while Dan Biggar will appear in the showpiece event for the third time alongside Gareth Davies, Tomas Francis, Dan Lydiate, Leigh Halfpenny and Liam Williams.

Exeter Chiefs second row Dafydd Jenkins is the youngest member of the squad with 20 years while Corey Domachowski and Henry Thomas, who made their debut in the warm-up games feature in the squad.

“The toughest part of the job is always selection and this is particularly the case when it comes to picking a Rugby World Cup squad,” said Gatland.

“Over the past three months the whole group of 48 players in the wider training squad has been outstanding in terms of attitude and effort, so having to reduce the squad down to the final 33 has been really hard and there have been some close final decisions in the last 36 hours.

“But we can only take 33 players and those we have selected we think offer a good combination in terms of talent and experience.

“We have a few more training sessions here in Wales before we depart for France on 3 September and we cannot wait to get out there and get started in this tournament. We look forward to what lies ahead for this group.

“This will be a very proud moment for these players, their families and friends and I’d like to congratulate them all on the achievement.”

Wales are grouped in Pool C alongside Fiji, Australia, Portugal and Georgia.

Wales squad for World Cup:

Forwards: Taine Basham, Adam Beard, Elliot Dee, Corey Domachowski, Ryan Elias, Taulupe Faletau, Tomas Francis, Dafydd Jenkins, Dewi Lake (cc), Dillon Lewis, Dan Lydiate, Jac Morgan (cc), Tommy Reffell, Will Rowlands, Nicky Smith, Gareth Thomas, Henry Thomas, Christ Tshiunza, Aaron Wainwright

Backs: Josh Adams, Gareth Anscombe, Dan Biggar, Sam Costelow, Gareth Davies, Rio Dyer, Mason Grady, Leigh Halfpenny, George North, Louis Rees-Zammit, Nick Tompkins, Johnny Williams, Liam Williams, Tomos Williams